As 16,000 pro-Russian troops swept through Crimea, seizing control of its key sites, murmurings about a new Cold War have followed hard on their heels. Whether or not invoking that label is anachronistic is a topic for another discussion, but it is clear is that the world has changed significantly and that brings challenges and opportunities when business leaders try to piece together their risk-management strategy in the heat of dramatic and changing events.

One notable difference in the way this crisis has played out lies in a shift from clandestine operations to gather information to a focus on leveraging open source intelligence. We have now entered a new era in terms of the amount of data we are able to collect, synthesise and analyse; with “big data” increasingly becoming a defining feature of the 21st century. With this in mind corporations must focus on how to embrace these technological developments to gain an edge in understanding of global events.

Recent episodes of unrest from across the world, from Caracas to Crimea, Sao Paolo to Istanbul have been marked by one uniform feature – the huge amount of content that they generate. Whether running commentary on the blogosphere, meeting points being broadcast on Twitter or rolling 24 coverage from global news organisations there is a deluge of data.